Gandhinagar, Nov 21 (IANS): Seven members of a family were charred to death in a road accident near Surendranagar at around 3 a.m. on Saturday when a dumper truck hit their Echo vehicle. The accident caused a fire in the vehicle, in which all the seven persons trapped inside perished, according to police.

The Surendranagar police have nabbed the person who was driving the dumper and have sent him for corona testing.

The seven victims belonging to the Nai (Barber) community included three women (one girl child) were returning from Chotila pilgrimage to their homes in Patan district. One unit of the extended family was from Nanapura village in Radhanpur Tehsil of Patan while the other was from Korada village in Santalpur Tehsil of Patan.

"The accident is believed to have been caused between 3 to 5 in the morning. We received the information around 5.30 a.m. There were seven persons, including the driver, inside the car which was hit by the dumper. All the bodies are badly burnt. We have sent the bodies for postmortem to the Rajkot hospital. We have caught the driver of the vehicle which caused the accident, who had fled the scene and sent him for corona testing. The Bajana police is investigating the matter," said BN Jadeja, Inspector, Bajana police station, who is investigating the case told IANS.